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POLITICO 44

A Bloomington, Ind., restaurant owner who had been running an obscure and uphill challenge against Sen. Evan Bayh for the Democratic nomination claimed Monday that she’s just 1,000 signatures short of qualifying for the ballot.

In an interview with POLITICO, Tamyra D'Ippolito said that after news broke Monday morning that Bayh was retiring, her campaign contacted Democratic officials in Indiana to request they help her get the needed signatures by noon Tuesday — when they must be verified by the state’s 92 country registrars.

It would be something close to a nightmare scenario for Democrats: were D’Ippolito to qualify for the ballot, she would be the likely nominee and the party would be left to face the GOP with a political neophyte who said she is running in part to take on a party establishment she said practices “sexism with a big S.”

It’s precisely what Bayh had hoped to avoid. By disclosing his retirement one day before the filing deadline, the idea was that no Democrat would qualify for the primary ballot and the party’s state central committee could tap their favored candidate.

It was not possible to verify D’Ippolito’s claim about how many signatures she’s collected. To qualify for the statewide ballot in Indiana, candidates need 500 verified voter signatures from each of the state’s nine congressional districts.

But in the mad scramble following Bayh’s surprise decision, worried Democrats in Washington and Indianapolis were taking the prospect seriously.

“This would be a complete and unmitigated disaster,” said a leading Democrat in the state. “We’d be up sh—’s creek.”

This Indianapolis-based Democrat was in contact with senior party officials in Bloomington on Monday and had begun calling around to registrars in the state’s population centers to determine whether D’Ippolito had filed her petitions yet.

But D’Ippolito said she had not yet been urged by any Democrat to stop collecting signatures and withdraw.

“They know me too well,” she said. “That won’t work well with me.”

She said she was committed to the race in part because she was sick of the male-dominated Democratic Party in the state.

“It’s very much an old boys club in Indiana and I’m out to break it,” she said.

Before hanging up she added that she wanted to offer a “reminder:” “Indiana is 52 percent women.”

D’Ippolito also suggested that Bayh’s announcement was timed so that the state’s top Democratic officials could hand-pick his successor.

“I don’t know if they’re smoking cigars there, but the decision has already been made,” she said.

The owner of the Ragazzi Art Café in Bloomington, a liberal enclave that is home to Indiana University, D’Ippolito ran the 2006 primary campaign of a Democrat who lost to Rep. Baron Hill. But this is the first time she has run for office.

A colon cancer survivor, she launched a liberal challenge against Bayh in November in part over healthcare.

D’Ippolito said she was working diligently to get the needed signatures but was still lagging, especially in the 8th District which is in the southwest corner of the state.

She said she wasn’t certain she’d qualify because, as she put it, Bayh-backing Democratic officials “have been stonewalling us for four months.”

A DSCC official conceded that after the Bayh shocker they were still trying to determine who exactly D’Ippolito was and whether she could qualify.

“I’m told it’s unlikely she gets this done,” said the official, more hopeful than confident.

Conservative and liberal activists, with varying motives, also began to rally around D'Ippolito Monday.

Readers' Comments (29)

So a moderate dumbcrat that votes like a libturd retires, and the best replacement is a feminazi - LOL! How is that Hope & Change working out?

Hey libturds, can you hear the Tea Party Now? You know, the same people you call Teabaggers, Nazi's, Wingnuts, Mouth Breathers, Knuckle Draggers, etc?. Get used to us because we are coming for you. We will not be stopped.

America is caught onto your lies. We know that 0zer0 is a Fascist Narcissist Petulant Man-Child, and Pelosi and Reid are his brownshirt stormtroopers. America doesn't want your taxes, spending, bailouts, government takeovers of companies, Cap & Tax, Card Check, amnesty for illegal aliens, backroom deals for lobbyists and unions, radicals and tax cheats as czars, worshiping at the global warming religious zealots alter, Miranda Rights for terrorists, surrender in Iraq and Afghanistan, bowing to dictators in N.Korea and Iran, and your socialized Soylent Green Healthcare with government paid for abortion and death panels.

We are sick of calls for bi-partisanship, only to have your savior 0zer0 say "I won", or have Reid or Pelosi kill every bi-partisan attempt at legislation by not even letting it see the light of day. The libturd dumbcrat bi-partisan way is "My way, or the highway".

New Jersey, Virgina and Massachusetts was just the opening battle in the war to take back the country from the Marxist libturd dumbcrats. Lady Liberty is smiling again because the Tea Party Express is saving the country and returning it to a Republic. We will make congress responsible in 2010 and 0zer0 in 2012.

Democratic Senator Evan Bayh’s shocking retirement announcement has unleashed some frantic maneuvering in both DC and Indiana, as tomorrow’s noon deadline looms for any candidates wishing to compete in the Democratic Senatorial primary race. As of Bayh’s withdrawal announcement today, there are no candidates qualified for the primary race. It appears at this hour that the establishment Democrats, such as Indiana Dem. Reps. Baron Hill and Brad Ellsworth, are not attempting to meet tomorrow’s deadline for the primary. Instead, Indiana Democrats hope to appoint a Senate nominee in a caucus process, bypassing primary voting by the people of Indiana. However, those well laid Democratic plans may be disrupted by a darkhorse candidate, liberal Democrat Tamyra D’Ippolito, a local restaurant owner. Politico’s Jonathan Martin explains the facts on the ground as of this afternoon:

A Bloomington, Ind., restaurant owner who had been running an obscure and uphill challenge against Sen. Evan Bayh for the Democratic nomination claimed Monday that she’s just 1,000 signatures short of qualifying for the ballot.

In an interview with POLITICO, Tamyra D’Ippolito said that after news broke Monday morning that Bayh was retiring, her campaign contacted Democratic officials in Indiana to request they help her get the needed signatures by noon Tuesday — when they must be verified by the state’s 92 country registrars.

It would be something close to a nightmare scenario for Democrats: were D’Ippolito to qualify for the ballot, she would be the likely nominee and the party would be left to face the GOP with a political neophyte who said she is running in part to take on a party establishment she said practices “sexism with a big S.”

Bayh's seat is gone to GOP and what he wants to punish the Dems for their stupidity. I am glad he has done that and see what comes next. On the other hand, let the other part of Congress be controlled by GOP and see who will take the blame for our woes in this country. Dems have failed, period.

Bayh's seat is gone to GOP and what he wants to punish the Dems for their stupidity. I am glad he has done that and see what comes next. On the other hand, let the other part of Congress be controlled by GOP and see who will take the blame for our woes in this country. Dems have failed, period.

Erick Erickson's reaction was exactly like my own. Indiana is a red state at heart. Their only hope of electing a Democrat is that that Democrat is a moderate like Bayh. I really don't think this challenger has a prayer in a general election.

Therefore, by all means, I am pulling for her. My only regret is that I live in a stupid blue state. Our only chance of getting a Republican is if we choose a moderate. There is a name floating around to challenge our local liberal. I'm not thrilled, because he's no conservative, but he is very popular in this state and certainly would have a chance at winning. So my feelings about his entry are very, very mixed.

Conservatives in Indiana: Please, by all means, sign this challenger's petition! You want her on your ballot!

Bayh has been a good Senator. Not a grandstander, but an intelligent & thoughtful presence in the Senate. Sad to see him go, but you can't blame him - Indiana will be a tough fight this year.

Do the Indiana voters support health care or the stimulus? Ben Nelson defines himself as a "moderate" but he stood with his party over his constitutents. To me that's not a definition of a "good" senator. Senator Bayh should have been urging his party to moderate some of their craziness months ago -- it's a little late now.